Visual Communication in Practice: A Texto-Material Approach to WhatsApp in Mexico City

Authors

  • Edgar Gómez-Cruz School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales. UNSW Sydney, Kensington NSW 2052
  • Ignacio Siles School of Information, Universidad de Costa Rica

Keywords:

affordance, Latin America, mobile communication, messaging apps, texto-materiality, WhatsApp, visual culture

Abstract

With more than 2 billion users, WhatsApp is one of the most important mobile technologies in the world. Accordingly, scholarly interest in WhatsApp has grown in recent years. However, studies have tended to separate WhatsApp’s visual and textual elements from the analysis of its technological infrastructure. Alternatively, we argue for a “texto-material” approach that examines the links between both dimensions. We elaborate on the analytical gains that come from this approach by examining the use of WhatsApp in Mexico City. We posit that considering how textual/visual elements and technological features are interwoven is crucial for understanding the cultural specificity of WhatsApp’s development and use in places like Latin America.

Author Biographies

Edgar Gómez-Cruz, School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales. UNSW Sydney, Kensington NSW 2052

Edgar Gómez Cruz is a Senior Lecturer in Media (Digital Cultures) at the School of the Arts and Media at the UNSW in Sydney, Australia. He has published widely on a number of topics relating to digital culture in top journals, particularly in the areas of material visual practices, digital ethnography and critical approaches to digital technologies. His recent publications include the book From Kodak Culture to Networked Image: An Ethnography of Digital Photography Practices (2012), and the co-edited volumes Digital Photography and Everyday Life. Empirical Studies on Material Visual Practices (Routledge, 2016) with Asko Lehmuskallio and Refiguring Techniques in Visual Digital Research (Palgrave, 2017), with Shanti Sumartojo and Sarah Pink.Tel +612938552309

Ignacio Siles, School of Information, Universidad de Costa Rica

Ignacio Siles is professor of media and technology studies in the School of Communication and researcher in the Centro de Investigación en Comunicación (CICOM) at Universidad de Costa Rica. He is the author of A Transnational History of the Internet in Central America, 1985-2000 (2020, Palgrave Macmillan) and Networked Selves: Trajectories of Blogging in the United States and France (2017, Peter Lang), along with several articles on the relationship between technology, communication, and society.Tel. +506 2511-6414

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Published

2021-10-15

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021)

Section

Articles

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