This study combines perspectives from domestication theory, feminist technology studies and sociological research on ageing in order to understand older people’s internet use. The suggested approach enables us to examine the complexity of social inequalities in domestication processes. Firstly, I argue that domestication theory benefits from the integration of gender-technology relations, a perspective developed from within feminist technology studies. This allows a better understanding of different dimensions of gender (structure, symbolism, identity) as well as mutual shaping processes between gender and technology. Secondly, this analysis of gender-technology relations can also be utilised to enhance our understanding of age-technology relations. Gender and age are examined in relation to (i) different phases of domestication, (ii) the use of the internet for different activities and (iii) forms of social connectedness in everyday life. The research draws upon 33 semi-structured interviews with women and men between the ages of 55 and 80 about their internet and web 2.0 use experiences. My study demonstrates the diversity of intersections between age, gender and technology within older women’s and men’s internet use experiences, and highlights the significance of traditional age-gender-technology relations (which marginalise older women) for internet use. Furthermore, it identifies specific mechanisms found within domestication processes which serve to maintain these traditional relations. This thesis proposes a research perspective for studying age-gender-technology relations, and examines mutual shaping processes in the domestication of the internet.

Das Internet kann auf vielfältige Weise in den (häuslichen) Alltag integriert werden - die vorliegende, durchaus interessante Studie analysiert hauptsächlich auf der Basis von problemzentrierten Interviews und einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse (nach MAYRING) die (aktiven) Aneignungsmodi und die Integration dieses Mediums in den Alltag. Im Mittelpunkt der Studie stehen die Effekte der Nutzungs- und Kommunikationsformen des Internets, aufgegliedert in zeitliche, räumliche, inhaltliche und soziale Dimensionen. Im Besonderen werden die Wirkungen der Internetnutzung in Bezug auf Beziehungsstrukturen zwischen (Lebens-) Partner/innen und Geschlechterverhältnisse fokussiert. Dabei wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit Ungleichheitsstrukturen auch im Bereich des going online reproduziert werden. Durch die Auswahl von jeweils zwölf Paaren in Deutschland und Australien werden Veränderungsprozesse in zwei Ländern verglichen, die sich in einer etwas differenten Phase des Diffusions- und Integrationsgrads befinden. Die Autorin verweist darauf, dass gerade qualitativ orientierte Studien die sich wandelnden Kommunikationsprozesse und Interaktionsstrukturen im häuslichen Alltag in den Blick nehmen können - das wird mit der Studie gezeigt, auch wenn "nur" ein eher explorativer Anspruch deutlich wird.

Desde o final do século XX, o tema saúde é um das mais procurados na internet para diversos fins. As pessoas que convivem com HIV/AIDS não estão afastadas dessa tendência, formando inclusive um dos grupos de usuários que mais acessam a internet. Um grupo com um passado e presente de produção de movimento social que muito contribuiu para a reconhecida política HIV/AIDS brasileira. O objetivo desta tese é identificar e analisar os padrões de busca e interação com o conteúdo em saúde na internet no cotidiano das pessoas com HIV/AIDS, em particular nos potenciais desdobramentos em processos de medicalização, tomada de decisão sobre condutas em saúde e relação com movimento social. A metodologia se baseou em análise de conteúdo de entrevistas e realização de etnografia virtual de uma página fechada no Facebook. As discussões sobre o material pesquisado foram divididas em categorias analíticas, cuja análise gerou os seguintes resultados: a sociabilidade produzida na internet contribui para diminuir o sofrimento em relação ao preconceito, tanto em relação ao HIV/AIDS, quanto à homossexualidade; há uma carência de espaços de acolhimento virtual em detrimento a uma maior oferta de espaços para discussão sobre políticas públicas; a medicalização na rede produz a chance de se obter condutas não recomendadas, no entanto, pessoas vinculadas a grupos virtuais possuem mais estímulos a não abandonar a medicação; a confiabilidade nos conteúdos da internet em geral possui um padrão de acesso a sites recomendados pelos órgãos oficiais do setor saúde; é comum pesquisar antes ou depois da consulta médica, no entanto a negociação se dá em cyberespaços de acolhimento; muitos ativistas do HIV/AIDS foram estimulados a participar do ativismo político através da internet. Há necessidade de se ampliar espaços virtuais de acolhimento através de políticas públicas incentivadoras; a formação médica precisa contemplar questões relacionadas à internet e saúde sobre sociabilidade, adesão, e terapêutica digital, prescrição de sites, blogs e redes sociais, devendo-se ponderar com questões de medicalização e prevenção quaternária. / Since the late twentieth century, health is one of the most popular subjects on the Internet for various reasons. People living with HIV/AIDS are not apart from this trend, being one of the groups of users with most intensive Internet access. This group is characterized by a intense participation in a social movement that greatly contributed to the acclaimed HIV/AIDS Brazilian policy. The objective of this thesis is to identify and analyze the search patterns and interaction with content on the Internet in the daily health of people with HIV/AIDS, particularly in potential developments in medicalization processes, decision making on health behaviors and relationship with social movements. The methodology involved interviews, which were later subject to content analysis, and a virtual ethnography of a closed secret group on Facebook. The discussion of the produced material was divided into analytical categories, whose analysis yielded the following results: sociability produced in the internet helps to reduce suffering in relation to prejudice, both with regard to HIV/AIDS and homosexuality; there are not many welcoming zones for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA) on the internet at the expense of a greater supply of spaces for discussion on public policy; medicalization produces opportunities to incur in unhealthy behaviors, however, people linked to social networks have more encouragement to not give up the medication; the reliability of internet content in general has a pattern of access to sites recommended by official agencies of the health sector; it is common to search before or after medical consultations, though negotiations about medication and symptoms take place in social networks; activists of HIV/AIDS were encouraged to participate in political activism over the internet. There is a need to have welcoming zones to PLHA on the internet guaranteed by public policy; medical education needs to cover issues related to the internet and health, such as sociability, compliance, and "digital therapy", prescription sites, blogs and social networks, but should consider issues of medicalization and quaternary prevention as well.

Desde o final do século XX, o tema saúde é um das mais procurados na internet para diversos fins. As pessoas que convivem com HIV/AIDS não estão afastadas dessa tendência, formando inclusive um dos grupos de usuários que mais acessam a internet. Um grupo com um passado e presente de produção de movimento social que muito contribuiu para a reconhecida política HIV/AIDS brasileira. O objetivo desta tese é identificar e analisar os padrões de busca e interação com o conteúdo em saúde na internet no cotidiano das pessoas com HIV/AIDS, em particular nos potenciais desdobramentos em processos de medicalização, tomada de decisão sobre condutas em saúde e relação com movimento social. A metodologia se baseou em análise de conteúdo de entrevistas e realização de etnografia virtual de uma página fechada no Facebook. As discussões sobre o material pesquisado foram divididas em categorias analíticas, cuja análise gerou os seguintes resultados: a sociabilidade produzida na internet contribui para diminuir o sofrimento em relação ao preconceito, tanto em relação ao HIV/AIDS, quanto à homossexualidade; há uma carência de espaços de acolhimento virtual em detrimento a uma maior oferta de espaços para discussão sobre políticas públicas; a medicalização na rede produz a chance de se obter condutas não recomendadas, no entanto, pessoas vinculadas a grupos virtuais possuem mais estímulos a não abandonar a medicação; a confiabilidade nos conteúdos da internet em geral possui um padrão de acesso a sites recomendados pelos órgãos oficiais do setor saúde; é comum pesquisar antes ou depois da consulta médica, no entanto a negociação se dá em cyberespaços de acolhimento; muitos ativistas do HIV/AIDS foram estimulados a participar do ativismo político através da internet. Há necessidade de se ampliar espaços virtuais de acolhimento através de políticas públicas incentivadoras; a formação médica precisa contemplar questões relacionadas à internet e saúde sobre sociabilidade, adesão, e terapêutica digital, prescrição de sites, blogs e redes sociais, devendo-se ponderar com questões de medicalização e prevenção quaternária. / Since the late twentieth century, health is one of the most popular subjects on the Internet for various reasons. People living with HIV/AIDS are not apart from this trend, being one of the groups of users with most intensive Internet access. This group is characterized by a intense participation in a social movement that greatly contributed to the acclaimed HIV/AIDS Brazilian policy. The objective of this thesis is to identify and analyze the search patterns and interaction with content on the Internet in the daily health of people with HIV/AIDS, particularly in potential developments in medicalization processes, decision making on health behaviors and relationship with social movements. The methodology involved interviews, which were later subject to content analysis, and a virtual ethnography of a closed secret group on Facebook. The discussion of the produced material was divided into analytical categories, whose analysis yielded the following results: sociability produced in the internet helps to reduce suffering in relation to prejudice, both with regard to HIV/AIDS and homosexuality; there are not many welcoming zones for people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA) on the internet at the expense of a greater supply of spaces for discussion on public policy; medicalization produces opportunities to incur in unhealthy behaviors, however, people linked to social networks have more encouragement to not give up the medication; the reliability of internet content in general has a pattern of access to sites recommended by official agencies of the health sector; it is common to search before or after medical consultations, though negotiations about medication and symptoms take place in social networks; activists of HIV/AIDS were encouraged to participate in political activism over the internet. There is a need to have welcoming zones to PLHA on the internet guaranteed by public policy; medical education needs to cover issues related to the internet and health, such as sociability, compliance, and "digital therapy", prescription sites, blogs and social networks, but should consider issues of medicalization and quaternary prevention as well.

This thesis challenges core assumptions associated with the peer production of culture using the web-based collaborative film production platform Wreckamovie to understand how peer production works in practice. Active cultural participation is a growing political priority for many governments and cultural bodies, but these priorities are often implemented without a basis in empirical evidence, making it necessary for rigorous scholarship to tackle emerging networked cultural production. Existing work portrays peer production efforts as unrealistically distinct from proprietary, market-based production, incorrectly suggesting that peer production allows distributed, non-monetarily motivated, collaboration between self-selected individuals in hierarchy-free communities. In overcoming these assumptions, this thesis contributes to the development of a consolidated theoretical framework encompassing the complicated and multifaceted nature of networked cultural production. This theoretical framing extends Bourdieu’s theory of cultural production and reconciles it with Becker’s Art Worlds framework, and further embeds and draws on Benkler’s notion of commons-based peer production. Concretely, this research tackles the emergence of new collaborative production models enabled by networked technologies, and theorizes the tensions and challenges characterizing such production forms. Secondly, this thesis redefines cultural participation and considers the divisions of labour in online filmmaking materializing from the interactions between professional and non-professional filmmakers. Finally, this study considers the social economies surrounding networked cultural production, including crowdfunding, and characterizes associated conversions of capital, such as the conversion of symbolic capital into financial capital. Methodologically, this thesis employs an embedded case study strategy. It examines four feature film productions facilitated by the online platform Wreckamovie, as well as the online community within which these productions are embedded. The four production cases have completed all production stages, and have resulted in completed cultural goods during the course of data collection. This study’s findings were derived from two and half years of participant observations, interviews with 29 Wreckamovie community and production members, and the examination of archived production-related discourses (2006-2013). Ultimately, this study makes concrete proposals towards a theory of networked cultural production with clear policy implications.