Texting in motion

Keystroke logging and observing synchronous mobile discourse

Bibliographic Data

ID13011947
AuthorsJoel Schneier (0000-0001-5827-3173, North Carolina State University, corresponding author), Peter Kudenov (North Carolina State University)
Year2017
Volume6
Issue3
Pages309-330
Publication date2017-12-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMobile Media & Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2050-1579 • E-ISSN: 2050-1587
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/2050157917738806
OpenAlexW2774189885
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

This study explores the efficacy of keystroke logging as a method to qualitatively investigate the synchronous processes of discursive interaction through mobile devices as individuals go about their everyday lives. Heeding cautions from Boase (2013) concerning software variability across mobile technologies, as well as challenges from Ørmen and Thorhauge (2015) to use log data for qualitative research, our study offers one such methodological roadmap for observing—from the software side—the complex entanglements of humans and mobile technologies as they engage in mediated discourse. Our study draws upon keystroke analysis from the tradition of writing process research (Leijten & van Waes, 2013; Wengelin, 2006), as well as posthumanist methodologies for observing cybernetic interactions (Giddings, 2014), and extends Farman’s (2012) argument that asynchronous forms of mobile communication, such as text messaging, are performatively synchronous, since interlocutors are pulled toward embodied copresence via the mediated space. In doing so, we present a preliminary study of methods for directly observing how discursive processes manifest in-the-moment as a complex flow between human, machinic, and spatial components in a network assemblage

Affordance · Argument (complex analysis · Assemblage (archaeology · Asynchronous communication · Cognitive science · Computer security · Discourse analysis · Embodied cognition · Human–computer interaction · Keystroke logging · Linguistics · Mobile device · Process (computing · Telecommunications · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Digital Communication and Language · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Psychology · Usability and User Interface Design · Artificial Intelligence

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub