KATRINA JUNGNICKEL

Kat's PhD "Making WiFi: A Sociological study of backyard technologists in suburban Australia" explores the culture of a new digital technology - Wireless Fidelity (WiFi). Drawing on an ethnography of the largest not-for-profit community WiFi group in Australia, she examines how members construct a communications network that spans across the largely suburban city of Adelaide by connecting together home-made antennas, many of which are located in their own backyards. These individuals, or 'backyard technologists', collectively make WiFi using a diverse range of materials and improvised methods in places and at times outside conventional information communication technology (ICT) innovation contexts. They imbue a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethic yet importantly they do not do it alone – they Do-It-Together (DIT).

Her work brings to light the achievement of making WiFi by Australian 'backyard technologists' and, in doing so, draws attention to the assemblies of ordinary, hand-made and 'home brew' representations and practices that operate as important tools in the construction of knowledge and new digital technologies.

See her research blog for more about the project.

PAPERS/ PRESENTATIONS/ EXHIBITIONS

Jungnickel, K. (2009) "Makers", "Mashers" and "Mods": Grassroots technology practices in suburban Australia, Exhibition, 24-31 October Goldsmiths College, London.

Jungnickel, K. (2008) Disorderly Design; The role of mess in the making of WiFi, Paper presented at 4S [Society for the Social Studies of Science] Annual Conference, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Jungnickel, K & G, Bell. (2008) 'Home is where the hub is? Domestic culture & wireless Infrastructures in Australian homes', In Foth, M. (ed.) Urban Informatics : Community Integration & Implementation (forthcomng).

Jungnickel, K. (2007) Cover photos for Goggin G, & Gregg, M. (eds.) Wireless Cultures & Technologies, Media International Australia (MIA), University of Queensland, Australia.

(2006) ‘Using the Internet’ (with Nina Wakeford and Kate Orton-Johnson) in Gilbert, N. (ed) From Postgraduate to Social Scientist : A Guide to Key Skills, London : Sage

Jungnickel, K. (2006) Home is Where the Hub is: Domestic cultures and wireless infrastructures in urban Australia, Paper presented at The Australian Sociological Association conference [TASA], University of Western Australia, Perth.

Jungnickel, K. (2006) Hacking the Home: Technological tantrums and wireless workarounds in domestic culture, paper presented at Wireless Cultures & Technologies Workshop, University of Sydney, Australia

Jungnickel, K. (2005) Ways of Seeing and Researching the Blog, paper presented at Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) 6.0, Chicago, USA.

Jungnickel, K. (2005) Visible Bodies, Invisible Technology: The Making and Shaping of Wifi in the City, paper presented at the Visual Sociology Conference, Dublin, IR.

WEB PROJECTS

Making Wifi - Research blog documenting PhD fieldwork in Australia.

Located Mobility - Website for an INCITE/Intel funded project about wireless infrastructures in domestic contexts in Sydney.

73 Urban Journeys - Ongoing research project investigating the use of mobile technologies and senses of place in a mobile social space (ie. the bus) as well as the methological challenges of using a blog and website to gather, analyse and present data. Kat designed a website and blog for this project and there is a small case study about it in this book. 73 urban Journeys builds upon a much larger INCITE study about the consumption of digital content in specific locations in London.

OTHER PROJECTS

Edges - RA (2006) to Dr Genevieve Bell, Director of Intel Digital Home Group (DHG) for three week intensive fieldwork trip to Adelaide and Sydney exploring the edges of domestic spaces. At the end of the trip we produced a 42 page book featuring interview transcripts, images and contextual analysis and a series of postcards about the project.

Inside Asia - RA (2003) and Summer intern (2004) to Dr Bell at Intel DHG, Portland, Oregon. The project explored how culture shaped technology use across seven Asian counties.

Urban Tapestries (2003) - Member of core team at Proboscis, an arts/research organisation, designing and developing a wireless location based application system. Involved various research methods, evaluation devices, workshops and events.

Mapping Perception (2002) - Co-edited a book with Proboscis to accompany a four year interdisciplinary Sci-Art research project between a filmmaker, neurophysiologist and producer looking at the limits of human perception and issues of ability versus disability.

Sonic Geographies (2002) - Experimental project with Proboscis experimenting with urban mapping devices designed to excavate multi-sensory excursions in the city, primarily using animation, film and soundscapes.

Cell (2001) - Ethnography of an interdisciplinary collaboration, facilitated by Peter Ride, Digital Arts Development Agency (da2), between a UK digital artist and NY stem cell pathologist engaged in representing a major shift in understanding the cell as a component in the body.

email: kat [dot] jungnickel [at] gmail [dot] com