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Sociotechnical imaginaries of remote personal touch before and during COVID-19: An analysis of UK newspapers

Jewitt, Carey; Leder Mackley, kirsten; (2022) Sociotechnical imaginaries of remote personal touch before and during COVID-19: An analysis of UK newspapers. New Media and Society 10.1177/14614448221113922. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

This article considers newspapers’ role in shaping the sociotechnical imaginaries of touch, and emerging technologies that digitally mediate touch. It examines the discourses of touch and personal relationships at a distance that circulated in major British broadsheet newspapers during the 2020 outbreak of coronavirus disease-19, alongside dominant narratives of touch and remote communication in the previous 5 years. In doing so, the article demonstrates how existing discourses of touch and remote communication intensified during the pandemic, while imaginations of remote touch narrowed. The sociotechnical imaginaries of digital touch matter because they illuminate the kinds of social relations touch technologies are perceived to forge, maintain or deny.

Type: Article
Title: Sociotechnical imaginaries of remote personal touch before and during COVID-19: An analysis of UK newspapers
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/14614448221113922
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221113922
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: COVID-19, digital technologies, mediated touch, newspaper discourses, personal relationships, remote communication, sociotechnical imaginaries
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10152949
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