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ERIC Number: ED577489
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 294
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-0-3550-9072-7
ISSN: EISSN-
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Ways with Data: Understanding Coding as Writing
Lindgren, Chris
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota
In this dissertation, I report findings from an exploratory case-study about Ray, a web developer, who works on a data-driven news team that finds and tells compelling stories with large sets of data. I implicate this case of Ray's coding on a data team in a writing studies epistemology, which is guided by the following question: "What might be learned about coding, if writing researchers explore the consequences of making language material and computational in a digital medium?" I begin this study by outlining a theory of materiality of writing through 6 propositions, which serve as a lens to review literature and theories about coding that articulate the characteristics of code as written communication. From there, I describe my grounded-theory approach to this exploratory case and the battery of ethnographic methods used to collect observational data of Ray's coding over the course of approximately 6 months. Next, I present findings from my grounded analysis across 2 chapters. The first findings chapter cultivates a thick description of Ray, his coding, and how his coding is embedded within a broader objective to find stories in and through aggregate information, which I call "aggregate narratives." In the second findings chapter, I conduct a more granular analysis of Ray's coding of goal-oriented slices of data from the original data set source--a coding practice that produces what I term "provisional texts." Findings indicate how Ray's coding of the provisional texts, and the texts themselves, provide active epistemic functions to create aggregate narratives. Finally, I conclude by synthesizing findings with the theoretical propositions about the materialities of writing discussed in the first chapter. Overall, Ray's coding and its materialities show how coding is a dynamic, situated cultural practice, which invites future inquiries into and across domains of coding practices. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A