eprintid: 10143552 rev_number: 16 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/14/35/52 datestamp: 2022-02-16 11:50:37 lastmod: 2023-08-18 10:42:48 status_changed: 2022-02-16 11:50:37 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Gourlay, Lesley title: Digital masks: screens, selves and symbolic hygiene in online higher education ispublished: pub divisions: B14 divisions: J77 divisions: B16 divisions: UCL keywords: Screens, asynchronous teaching, pandemic, Goffman, masks note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. abstract: Given the central role of digital devices and screens in academic work, their use and our relationship to them are under-theorised in mainstream research into digital education. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, rendered the use of digital screens central to life in ‘lockdowns’. This paper will consider the relationships between digital screens and anti-epidemic face masks, considering these artefacts in terms of functionality, academic subjectivities and epistemic practices, drawing on sociomaterial perspectives, Goffman's categories of lecturing self, and the history of anti-epidemic mask-wearing. I illustrate this with a vignette of teaching via digital screens, given by a member of faculty in an interview study exploring the impact of the lockdown on university staff. It will conclude that the digital screen may be viewed as a ‘digital mask’; carrying out a practical function, but also performing an ideology of hygiene and reason. The implications for digital higher education post-pandemic are discussed. date: 2022 date_type: published publisher: Informa UK Limited official_url: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2022.2039940 oa_status: green full_text_type: other language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1939288 doi: 10.1080/17439884.2022.2039940 lyricists_name: Gourlay, Lesley lyricists_id: LJGOU86 actors_name: Gourlay, Lesley actors_id: LJGOU86 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Learning, Media and Technology volume: 47 number: 3 pagerange: 398-406 citation: Gourlay, Lesley; (2022) Digital masks: screens, selves and symbolic hygiene in online higher education. Learning, Media and Technology , 47 (3) pp. 398-406. 10.1080/17439884.2022.2039940 <https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2022.2039940>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10143552/9/Gourlay_Digital%20masks%20screens%20selves%20and%20symbolic%20hygiene%20in%20online%20higher%20education.pdf