Methodology and Methods

This research was conducted through arts-based practice, where the creative work itself acts as a form of research (Candy 2006). This methodology allowed for the interdisciplinary exploration of digital swarms through art, sound, algorithmic practice, performance art, design, and user experience in the making of Scrape Elegy. The collaboration of researchers and practitioners from more than five disciplines, through a process of shaping, theorizing, contextualizing, documenting, and making, allowed us to create a work that reframes our social media presence through a kind of uncanny self-awareness, rather than traditional methods of knowledge transmission. We take inspiration from Gerber (2022) and McNiff (1998) in using arts-based practice as critical exploration, in which the subject of scientific enquiry is explored through art as a medium, influence, and practice.

Using Sullivan’s framework of practices (2009), our methodology involved various domains of enquiry, including:

• ‘conceptual practice’, where we used interactions and designs within the medium of social media, technology, sound, and physical materials to give form to our ideas;
• ‘dialectical practice’, where we explored the making of meaning through an installation experience that is felt and lived, using socially mediated data that are reconstructed, reinterpreted, and re-experienced; and
• ‘contextual practice’, reflecting on the role of our work as a critical form of enquiry that can bring about social change or at the very least a shift in the perception of social media use at the individual level.

The methodology includes influences from post-internet art (Smith 2020) and art through delegated performance (Bishop 2012).

The stages of creating this work were:

1. The exploration of digital platforms and technical possibilities;
2. The creation of the algorithm;
3. The design of the audio journey and integration with the algorithm;
4. The design and fabrication of the structure; and
5. The integration of all components and streamlining of the visitor journey.

Although these stages represent the broad trajectory of our process, in practice our process was iterative and collaborative. Ideas were tried out and discarded or changed, resulting in changes to other parts of the work. At times, the design of the audio journey required changes to the algorithm; at other times, the technical latency with digital scraping required adjustments to the audio journey. We used ourselves as research subjects, evaluating individually and collectively how the algorithm and audio design reframed our own experiences of social media, how it affected us emotionally, or how it changed our perspective. As we reached the final stages of our process, we asked friends to act as research subjects and qualitatively evaluate the audio design, receiving feedback from them about durations and emotional impacts.

This article presents each facet of the research in the order of exploration of the work. While a visitor will approach the work through the physical installation, the interaction with the algorithm via the iPad, and finally the experience of the work, the purpose of this article is to present our findings relating to the various lines of enquiry and disciplinarity within our arts-based research.

Next section: Social Media: The Basis for Exploration

Go back: Home

Other chapters:

The Technical: Finding Your Footprint

The Elegy: Creating_the Lament

The Toilet: Constructing the Physical

Subverting Big Tech

Curtain Call: Delegated Performance

References

Scrape_Elegy: Introduction to the Work

Methods and Methodology