Adopting a Sociomaterial Perspective for the Analysis of Digital Public Spheres

This paper argues that theorizing computer-mediated communications as political engagement within a sociomaterial perspective, an understanding attentive to the mutual constitution of the social and material, allows researchers to conceptually analyze the unique political practices afforded by information and communication technologies and their function within a public sphere. This approach foregrounds the mutual constitution of sociomaterial practices, and recognizes the centrality of performativity and contextual multidimensionality in their constitution and analysis. In addition, articulating patterns of these practices as sociotechnical systems presents a framework for scaling local analyses toward increasing levels of analysis commensurate with public sphere theory.