Papers by chantal benoit-barne
Decentering the Analysis
Routledge eBooks, Aug 5, 2019
Solving Crimes Online
Réseaux, 2016
The development of digital technology participates in the emergence of new types of citizen secur... more The development of digital technology participates in the emergence of new types of citizen security initiatives. This article explores four forms of online citizen contributions to the governance of crime derived from the social sciences and humanities: non-institutionalized surveillance work, crowdsourced policing, online vigilantes and the civilian police. The issues raised by each of these forms of contribution shed light on the results of an exploratory observation process within the Reddit Bureau of Investigation, an Anglophone Internet forum for citizens who wish to solve crimes. The results point to the key role played by digital and surveillance technology in the emergence of these practices and of new conceptions of the role of citizens in the governance of crime, to the construction of a common identity in reaction to the vigilante figure, and to the deployment of laypersons’ investigation expertise.
Speaking with One Voice
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2021
Authority According to CCO
Routledge eBooks, Apr 11, 2022
Voice
Routledge eBooks, Sep 2, 2021
Authority
The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication, Mar 8, 2017
Articuler collaboration et représentation en gouvernance collaborative : une perspective communicationnelle
Communication et organisation, Jun 1, 2021
Cet article rend compte de l’etude d’une initiative de gouvernance collaborative destinee a intro... more Cet article rend compte de l’etude d’une initiative de gouvernance collaborative destinee a introduire des mesures innovantes de securite routiere dans une juridiction canadienne. Il montre comment une attention aux pratiques de communication et a leurs effets constitutifs permet de saisir de quelles manieres les acteurs gerent l’un des principaux defis connus de ce type d’initiative : celui d’affronter les tensions inevitables entre l’imperatif de representer les interets de son organisation d’appartenance, et de collaborer positivement a la productivite du groupe. L’article decrit les manifestations de ces tensions et degage deux types de pratiques communicatives permettant de composer avec elles dans le cas d’une collaboration reussie.
La culture en tant que cultivation : vers une conception communicationnelle de la culture organisationnelle1
Communiquer, Jun 30, 2020
Bien que le lien entre organisation, culture et communication soit etabli de longue date, de faco... more Bien que le lien entre organisation, culture et communication soit etabli de longue date, de facon surprenante, hormis quelques exceptions, peu de chercheurs semblent avoir etudie la culture organisationnelle en train de se re-produire, a partir d’une perspective resolument communicationnelle. La plupart des etudes qui ont tente de le faire se sont surtout basees sur des entrevues, et non pas sur l’analyse d’interactions qui aurait permis de comprendre comment les acteurs produisent et reproduisent la culture par leurs pratiques quotidiennes. Ce texte tente de pallier ce manque en adoptant une approche d’analyse d’interactions pour montrer comment la culture peut etre concue comme un processus communicationnel, par lequel les acteurs mobilisent des elements – valeurs, principes, documents et autres – qu’ils positionnent comme guidant, orientant ou animant leurs actions. Cette perspective situe la culture au niveau des interactions observables, rendant concrete cette notion trop souvent intangible.
Solving Crimes Online: The Contribution of Citizens on the Reddit Bureau of Investigation
The development of digital technology has led to the emergence of new types of citizen security i... more The development of digital technology has led to the emergence of new types of citizen security initiatives. This article explores four forms of online citizen contributions to crime governance, derived from the social sciences and humanities: non-institutionalized surveillance work, crowdsourced policing, online vigilantes, and civilian policing. The issues raised by each of these forms of contribution shed light on the results of an exploratory observation process within the Reddit Bureau of Investigation, an internet forum for citizens wishing to solve crimes. The results point to the key role played by digital and surveillance technology in the emergence of these practices and of new conceptions of the role of citizens in the governance of crime, to the construction of a common identity in reaction to the figure of vigilantism, and to the deployment of laypersons’ investigative expertise.
Trial by Conversation: How Norms Are Negotiated during the Writing of an Organizational Text
In this article, we explore the constitutive and regulative dimensions of norms mobilized by acto... more In this article, we explore the constitutive and regulative dimensions of norms mobilized by actors during the writing process of an organizational text. Through analysis of a meeting of a small committee of senior managers from a large Canadian parapublic organization we examine the communicative practices by which the members discuss and debate the norms that should guide their writing task. On the basis of this analysis, we show how the constitution and mobilisation of norms touch upon the very definition of the committee’s identity and vocation.
On the Generative Power of Socio-Technical Controversy: Creating a Context of Opportunity for Wind Energy in Québec
In October 2001 Hydro-Québec (HQ) and the Québec government announced their plan to build a natur... more In October 2001 Hydro-Québec (HQ) and the Québec government announced their plan to build a natural gas fired electrical plant in Beauharnois (Québec) called the Suroît. The project was abandoned soon after due to public outcry but was re-announced in January 2004 and ...
Figures in Tension in Organizational Communication: A Ventriloqual Perspective
Socio-Technical Deliberation about Free and Open Source Software: Accounting for the Status of Artifacts in Public Life
Quarterly Journal of Speech, 2007
This essay investigates the rhetorical practices of socio-technical deliberation about free and o... more This essay investigates the rhetorical practices of socio-technical deliberation about free and open source (F/OS) software, providing support for the idea that a public sphere is a socio-technical ensemble that is discursive and fluid, yet tangible and organized because it is enacted by ...
‘Not your personal army!’ Investigating the organizing property of retributive vigilantism in a Reddit collective of websleuths
Information, Communication & Society
ABSTRACT This paper investigates a collective of websleuths called the Reddit Bureau of Investiga... more ABSTRACT This paper investigates a collective of websleuths called the Reddit Bureau of Investigation (RBI) that contains over 70,000 members. Websleuthing, or the investigative practices undertaken online by individuals who are not professional security providers, is an increasing trend. While conducting investigations on Reddit constitutes somewhat of a transgressive practice, the online platform's history is intimately linked with websleuthing since the manhunt that followed the 2013 Boston attacks which received much criticism from its community. Thus, we seek to understand how the RBI organizes its investigative activities against an anti-vigilante backdrop. Drawing from organizational discourse theory, we analyze the discursive practices developed by RBI members to define and enforce the collective's mission and participatory guidelines. Specifically, we focus on the figures (memes, metaphors, rules, affects, etc.) that RBI members invoke in interaction and on the role of Reddit's affordances in the materialization of these discursive entities. Our analysis is threefold. First, we underline how figures associated with retributive vigilantism are invoked by moderators and their propension to circumscribe what (not) to do within the subreddit. Then, we analyze a series of controversial posts to identify the recurring discursive practices developed by users when asking the RBI for assistance. Finally, we explore the ambivalent rapport that RBI members maintain with the police. Overall, our analysis shows that members must overtly recognize police authority over criminal matters yet invoke the institution's limitations to justify their involvement in the RBI, all the while rejecting any association with retributive vigilantism.
Reflections on Rhetoric, Deliberative Democracy, Civil Society, and Trust
Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 2002
Abstract: The current discussion of deliberative democracy has largely omitted serious considerat... more Abstract: The current discussion of deliberative democracy has largely omitted serious consideration of its rhetorical dimensions. We argue that such an omission keeps the discussion from focusing on how democracy actually works ...
Management Communication Quarterly, 2009
The complex distribution and negotiation of authority in real time is a key issue for today's org... more The complex distribution and negotiation of authority in real time is a key issue for today's organizations. The authors investigate how the negotiations that sustain authority at work actually unfold by analyzing the ways of talking and acting through which organizational members establish their authority. They argue that authority is achieved through presentification-that is, by making sources of authority present in interaction. On the basis of an empirical analysis of a naturally occurring interaction between a medical coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières and technicians of a hospital supported by her organization, the authors identify key communicative practices involved in achieving authority and discuss their implications for scholars' understanding of what being in authority at work means.
Management Communication Quarterly, 2009
The complex distribution and negotiation of authority in real time is a key issue for today's org... more The complex distribution and negotiation of authority in real time is a key issue for today's organizations. The authors investigate how the negotiations that sustain authority at work actually unfold by analyzing the ways of talking and acting through which organizational members establish their authority. They argue that authority is achieved through presentification-that is, by making sources of authority present in interaction. On the basis of an empirical analysis of a naturally occurring interaction between a medical coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières and technicians of a hospital supported by her organization, the authors identify key communicative practices involved in achieving authority and discuss their implications for scholars' understanding of what being in authority at work means.
‘Not your personal army!’ Investigating the organizing property of retributive vigilantism in a Reddit collective of websleuths
Information, Communication & Society, 2018
This paper investigates a collective of websleuths called the Reddit Bureau of Investigation (RBI... more This paper investigates a collective of websleuths called the Reddit Bureau of Investigation (RBI) that contains over 70,000 members. Websleuthing, or the investigative practices undertaken online by individuals who are not professional security providers, is an increasing trend. While conducting investigations on Reddit constitutes somewhat of a transgressive practice, the online platform's history is intimately linked with websleuthing since the manhunt that followed the 2013 Boston attacks which received much criticism from its community. Thus, we seek to understand how the RBI organizes its investigative activities against an anti-vigilante backdrop. Drawing from organizational discourse theory, we analyze the discursive practices developed by RBI members to define and enforce the collective's mission and participatory guidelines. Specifically, we focus on the figures (memes, metaphors, rules, affects, etc.) that RBI members invoke in interaction and on the role of Reddit's affordances in the materialization of these discursive entities. Our analysis is threefold. First, we underline how figures associated with retributive vigilantism are invoked by moderators and their propension to circumscribe what (not) to do within the subreddit. Then, we analyze a series of controversial posts to identify the recurring discursive practices developed by users when asking the RBI for assistance. Finally, we explore the ambivalent rapport that RBI members maintain with the police. Overall, our analysis shows that members must overtly recognize police authority over criminal matters yet invoke the institution's limitations to justify their involvement in the RBI, all the while rejecting any association with retributive vigilantism.
Résoudre des crimes en ligne. La contribution de citoyens au Reddit Bureau of Investigation
Résoudre des crimes en ligne
Réseaux, 2016
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Papers by chantal benoit-barne