La visite commentée des historiques personnels comme fenêtre sur les pratiques numériques des individus

A novel approach to the study of individuals’ online informational practices, which we used for two projects: 1) on the circulation of information via Facebook during the 2012 student strike in Quebec, and 2) on the informational practices of people seeking professional integration (young people and new arrivals). The project consists of two phases of individual meetings. The first part takes the form of a classic semi-structured interview (addressing informational practices in general and individual paths linked to the object of study). The second part explores traces of activity (shares, comments, “likes”) archived in users’ personal histories (on Facebook in the first project; on a variety of sites in the second). However, rather than “sucking up” these traces with a computerized device enabling their exhaustive collection, we proceed to a “commented visit” of the history with the participant, making a dynamic recording of both the image displayed on the screen and the verbal commentary. This method enables us to observe actual digital practices retrospectively, while benefiting from the respondent’s contextual explanations and, above all, his reflexivity on the meaning of these practices. This process generates rich data that allows the diversity of uses and skills to emerge.