Digital Studies Research Meeting

Nicole Ellison: Why We Don’t Click: Interrogating the Relationship Between Viewing and Clicking in Social Media Contexts by Exploring the “Non-Click”

Scholarship on well-being outcomes of social media use highlights two key mechanisms: social comparison (associated with viewing social media content) and social connectedness (enhanced by direct interaction facilitated by social media platforms). This literature often characterizes view-based social media practices as passive use, contrasting it with more desirable, interactive active use such as clicking. However, we lack deep understanding of how users experience viewing and clicking practices and the empirical relationship between them. Employing a combination of eye tracking, survey, and interview methods, our study (N=42) investigates the non-click—instances where people intentionally and thoughtfully withhold from clicking on content they spend time viewing. Counterintuitively, we find no difference in viewing duration (as measured by eye gaze) to clicked versus non-clicked Facebook content. Our interview data reveal three audience-related concerns that contribute to deliberate non-clicking and illustrate how non-clicked content contributes to social connectedness when imported into other channels. We discuss implications for researchers, users, and designers.

Magdalena Zaborowska: Archiving in BDS: Matter, Material, and Metaphor in Digital Collections in Literary Studies

Absent a brick-and-mortar writer’s museum for James Baldwin (1924-87) in the U.S., this presentation introduces an open-access digital collection entitled “Chez Baldwin.” Mounted and maintained by the University of Michigan Library, it will recreate Baldwin’s house for the public through digital imaging, GIS mapping, 3D printing, architectural blueprints, and a hand-made architectural model of the historic structure. The first digital collection of this kind focusing on black queer domesticity and an internationally recognized African American literary figure, it will provide accessible information about the writer’s everyday life and writing routines that remain opaque to academic and non-academic audiences alike.