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In this article, we introduce participant viewpoint ethnography (PVE), a phenomenological video research method that combines reflexive, interview-based data with video capture of actual experiences. In PVE, participants wear a head-mounted camera to record the phenomena of study from their point of view. The researcher and participant then review the video together, and the participant narrates and explains salient practices in the video. This generates both naturalistic video data (providing in situ access to social activities) and reflexive discourses on the activity of study. We detail this method, describing PVE data collection, how it differs from similar methods, the advantages of using it in social research, and potential challenges using the example of research on bike commuters. We conclude by suggesting uses for PVE in multiple areas of research.

In contemporary society, there is a growing call for spirituality in the workplace (Fry, 2003). Research on organizational spirituality is also proliferating. Rapidly changing organizational structures, technological advances, increased hours [...]

Many studies of organizational resistance have focused on a knowing agent who intends to challenge power. In contrast, we suggest that resistance is the product of many agents of varying ontological statuses acting together. Using a study of bicycle commuting in the American Midwest (an activity that takes place at the edges of organizations), actor-network theory, and Cooren's theory of ventriloquism, we demonstrate that resistance has a relational ontology. We show that bike commuters do not intend to resist through biking to work, decentering human action and intention in resistance. We then highlight three aspects of a relational understanding of resistance. First, bike commuting (and other resistive activity) is produced by a plenum of agencies of all ontological statuses, making resistance a hybrid activity, not limited to human agents. Second, activities of resistance and control come to have these meanings through their relationship with one another. Third, actions that come to mean resistance and control are put into conversation with each other to gain these meanings through ventriloquism. Through these arguments, we expand what can count as resistance, how resistance is produced, and who produces it, demonstrating that resistance is a relational production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we introduce participant viewpoint ethnography (PVE), a phenomenological video research method that combines reflexive, interview-based data with video capture of actual experiences. In PVE, participants wear a head-mounted camera to record the phenomena of study from their point of view. The researcher and participant then review the video together, and the participant narrates and explains salient practices in the video. This generates both naturalistic video data (providing in situ access to social activities) and reflexive discourses on the activity of study. We detail this method, describing PVE data collection, how it differs from similar methods, the advantages of using it in social research, and potential challenges using the example of research on bike commuters. We conclude by suggesting uses for PVE in multiple areas of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines what young Chinese children aged 3 to 10 years of age say about socialization agents who encourage particular kinds of future work and careers. As expected from prior research, family functions as the primary influence, but parents and extended family members operate in a mediated socialization environment where television shows, the Internet, testing, extracurricular activities, and children's own observations and understanding of what they like and dislike shape their aspirations toward particular careers and occupations. Children's talk displays the cultural formations and material consequences in which they are embedded, as they allude to parental and children's responsibilities at the intersections of changing policies and cultures. This study expands theoretical understandings of the human and non-human socialization agents (and their intersections) that influence understandings of work and career, offering practical suggestions for future research and career interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this chapter, we offer communicative perspectives and challenges related to gender representation and the gendered organizing and career processes in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) areas. We focus on the meaning of work in STEM and how these meanings are (re)created and communicated through d/Discourses. Using a discursive approach, new perspectives on the issue of the underrepresentation of women in STEM careers derive from the constructed nature of STEM work itself and its meaningfulness to different groups, particularly women. Engagement in STEM careers also provides a context to evaluate and expand theory, research, and practice in communication. We use multi-disciplinary lenses to examine developmental, educational, media, technological, socio-cultural, and organizational perspectives on STEM work and careers. In summary, this chapter examines the discursive roots of contemporary constructions and images of STEM work, careers, education, and organizations, offering an opportunity to address a socially relevant issue and context for further examination and explication of communication research, theories, and practices across specialties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]