Exposing the hidden spaces and times of work through video research methodology

Event Date: 10 May 2017

Speaker: Gillian Symon, Professor of Organization Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London

Time: 4-5pm

Location: Strathclyde Business School, Cathedral Wing, CW 5.07a

There is considerable research (e.g. Cousins and Robey, 2015) and cultural commentary (e.g. O’Hara, 2013) on how digital technologies affect work-life boundaries (WLB), particularly in terms of increasing their permeability (Duxbury et al, 2013).  The EPSRC-sponsored Digital Brain Switch project focused specifically on how individuals accomplish boundary management in daily practice and mediated by technology.  These switches may take place quickly and spontaneously, and across a range of different spaces, so are therefore ‘hidden’ from researchers.   To capture these hidden moments, we adopted a participant-led video methodology, together with follow-up interviews.  In this talk I will present and analyse some of the images that were captured in this way, highlighting the insights into the temporal and spatial contours of contemporary working lives this revealed.  I will also discuss the use of video as ‘reflective artefact’ (Toraldo et al, 2016), as keeping the video diaries also made their own daily practices more visible to the participants themselves, encouraging them to reflect on their own behaviours, potentially triggering changes in behaviour towards more sustainable working practices.  

Published: 22 February 2017