CONTEXTS

Applied ResearchConsuming Digital Rightsvisible the connections actors make across theseecosystems. Examining issues in relation to the timelineor importance of relationships can show policy makers,systems designers, and lawyers how information flowsacross actor networks so that they can design systems,processes, and laws to mediate these experiencesappropriately. Understanding these relationships helpstechnical communicators be better user advocates.Mapping helps us visualize the context within whichthese interactions will take place, providing commonground for discussions across project and productteams. The remaining sections of this article presentcases that reveal how technical communicators can usethe ANT approach to mapping activities to interactmore effectively in global contexts.CasesIn the beginning of his article “When Cultures andComputers Collide,” Kirk St.Amant (2002) states that“researchers in both intercultural communicating andin computer-mediated communication (CMC) need toadopt new research agendas that focus on the natureof intercultural communication practices in CMCenvironments.” In part, he is talking about issues ofcontention across different academic disciplines. Theareas of contention within the following cases stretchacross technical communication, legal studies, andcorporate decision-making.There are myriad perspectives one could take tomap these experiences. One could map the conceptssurrounding these cases, such as uses of DRM, relatedcorporations such as the Recording Industry Associationof America, legal cases that are considered criticalto intellectual property issues, and so forth. Anotherperspective would be to map the cases themselves,noting which people, technologies, and locations areinvolved. In taking this microlevel approach to thesecases, the goal is to shed light on specific examples thatengage technical communicators, developers, designers,and those in the legal profession.In the following section, a number of issues facingthese actors are outlined, and ways in which these mapscan lead to a shared understanding of these experiencesare explored. By visualizing these concerns, we canbe better prepared to inform stakeholders who canaid in the improvement of these systems, processes,and regulations. In Jo Allen’s 1990 article, “The CaseAgainst Defining Technical Writing,” she discussesthe disqualification of certain forms of technicalcommunication based on genre. She argues, “Nodefinition will adequately describe what we do” (Allen,1990, p. 76). In that spirit, the cases below representanother location where technical communication—inthis case, the kinds found in the entertainmentindustry—represent a different genre than istraditionally thought of as “technical communication.”Certainly, discussions of technology and how we createuser experiences to communicate the legal status, userexperiences, and research designs of these systems is atthe core of technical communication.In looking at Amazon’s Kindle product, we cantrace issues of DRM and DMCA that affect consumersinternationally. Accessing video content through mediasuch as video streaming on Hulu, physical DVDs onplayers, and BitTorrent P2P file-sharing systems bringsup international concerns with regard to laws, policies,and experiences—concerns also seen with Pandora.In all of these cases, we see the resurrection of whatLawrence Lessig refers to in his book The Future ofIdeas as the need for balance between the interests ofcopyright holders, new technologies, and consumers.Referring to Congress siding with record labels, Lessigstated, “We find that balance by looking for balance—not by giving copyright interests a veto over hownew technologies will develop. We discover what bestserves both interests by allowing experimentation andalternatives” (Lessig, 2002, p. 202).As Samuelson (2003, p. 41) states, “The mainpurpose of DRM is not to prevent copyrightinfringement but to change consumer expectationsabout what they are entitled to do with digital content.”Many of these attempts to change expectations havefaltered because consumers do not find them userfriendly.By examining how such legal issues affect userexperiences, technical communicators can trace howthese innovations clash with the entertainment practicesof everyday users and take part in the legal issuessurrounding these cases by examining them and usingour research to aid in the design of more user-centeredexperiences.308 Technical Communication l Volume 57, Number 3, August 2010