Video Methods: Researching Sociomaterial Points-of-View in Children’s Play Practices with IoToys

Abstract

Children’s play practices with Internet-connected toys occur in everyday situations across online and offline domains. The video-ethnographic ‘Points-of-View’ (POV) method presented here provides up-close access to sociomaterial practices between children and digital toys. We draw on a dual camera setup, providing audio-visual data from both ends of the interactions and present examples of empirical data created using this method, followed by analysis and discussion of how these examples provide some much-needed nuances on the subject of digital play. The POV method represents a rigid type of video ethnography in terms of camerawork, aiming at high levels of audio-visual comparability across informants and settings. Lastly, we discuss problems and suggest improvements to the method.