Maria Bakardjieva

This project investigates the transformations in the experienced lifeworld brought about by Internet technologies and practices through the  lens of the phenomenological sociology of Alfred Schutz. It inquires into the wider social and political consequences of these transformations by expanding Schutz’ framework with concepts  and questions stemming from schools of thought such as Phenomenology of Technology, Medium Theory, and Critical Theory. This conceptual work is substantiated through analysis of an  extensive dataset of in-depth interviews with various categories of Internet users that the author has conducted over a period of ten years. A wide range of existing qualitative studies of Internet use spanning different social and cultural contexts is also examined with a view to its theoretical and practical implications. The results of this analysis will offer novel understanding of the distinctions and interactions between the public and private spheres, laymen and experts, ordinary citizens and power elites, self-identity and community in the network society. In addition, they will suggest directions for user-centered technological design, media policy and education that take into account the substantive changes in the human condition associated with the penetration of digital  communication technologies in all areas of life. The new ways in which citizens in the network society experience their positions, responsibilities and possibilities for action vis-a-vis the public and political world will form a major focus of the project.