Agency and governance: Pokémon-Go and contested fun in public space

Abstract

Geographic research about digital technologies sometimes frames software as a locus of social, economic, and political agency that successfully mediates a range of corporate, governmental, and institutional practices. But some digital technologies lack support from authoritative actors. How and why might some effects of software be modulated, challenged, or subverted, even if programmers’ and other stakeholders’ intentions are not malicious? This essay argues that a nuanced geographic understanding of software should encompass varieties of actors, regimes, interactions, and experiences that can limit and complicate use of everyday technologies in space and time, fortifying some digital assemblages but not others. Using content from Reddit.com, I conducted an observational discourse analysis of the popular Augmented Reality (AR) game Pokémon-Go. Reddit users reflected on occasional moments when the game conflicted with governmental, institutional, cultural, and/or locational realities and decisions that revealed the contested and fragile nature of some software-mediated practices. Three thematic areas generated considerable audience reception and engagement, which I have termed “location,” “governance,” and “encounter.” They structure the analysis that follows, along with connections to AR research in engineering sub-disciplines. It may be useful for geographers to pay greater empirical attention to everyday moments when socio-spatial practices, regulatory logics (both formal and informal), and sub-cultural tensions limit what some digital technologies and their users can do in public space.