Appropriation of Information and Communication Technology by Kinese Internet Users The Paradox of Uses of Digital Social Networks
Appropriation of Information and Communication Technology by Kinese Internet Users The Paradox of Uses of Digital Social Networks
Appropriation of Information and Communication Technology by Kinese Internet Users The Paradox of Uses of Digital Social Networks
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Abstract:- The appropriation of information and work towards the analysis of the appropriation process
communication technologies has led Internet users in (Hatchuel, 1996; Ciborra, 2000; Orlikowski, 2000; Lorino,
general and particularly those living in the city of 2002; De Vaujany, 2005, J. Zetlaoui-Leger, 2012, Lino
Kinshasa to deliberately live a paradox. This forces them Pungi 2013). From then on, many theories have been
to breathe in a digital universe that is both satisfying and interested in appropriation (from the sociology of ICT use,
disturbing. Through the analysis of a case of usurpation which analyzes by domain (work, domestic life, citizenship,
of the digital identity of a victim on the social network consumption, leisure, etc.) to the management of
Facebook, we demonstrate how the situation of paradox appropriation of management tools (which analyzes through
in the use of digital technologies can push users, through the tools used). Finally, many concepts have been grafted
bricolage, to an evolving spring of use and creativity onto the appropriation concept (adoption, acceptance,
assimilation, integration, diffusion, infusion, structuring, in
I. INTRODUCTION a more collective perspective) 2. Appropriation seems to be
the sum of all these concepts, at the risk of appearing as
The revolution of information and communication their common denominator.
technologies is today based on the ideal of progress, thus
provoking the upheaval of societies, including the The "paradox", on the other hand, is understood as an
Congolese ones as a whole, and particularly that of opposition that contains or seems to contain a logical
Kinshasa. Thus, this progress is undoubtedly supported by contradiction, or a reasoning that, although without apparent
the development of computer science and the Internet fault, ends in an absurdity, or a situation that contradicts the
network. common intuition3. It appears as the fact of affirming or
denying a thing and it’s opposite.
Considered as the most active technologies, the
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have Within the framework of the appropriation of the ICT
been of great contribution, as no other type of ancient or and their uses, the paradoxality appears at the same time as
antediluvian technology had been able to do it, becoming the result of a contradictory process satisfying and not
not only among the types of the most profitable satisfying, of intelligence and moral idiocy; of responsibility
technologies, but also the most accessible. Moreover, they and irresponsibility of disposition and use. Using social
opened the prologue of the famous "digital era", considering networks, the special framework of our study, the
the advances that were made around them, and that appropriation of this digital tool could lead to a use that is at
increasingly stimulated the importance of digital. It is with the same time adequate and threatening. In this optic, Milad
reference to this revolution that our reflection focuses on the Douehi affirms that "digital technologies are at the same
appropriation of the said technologies from the point of time innocence and limitless potential, they also become the
view of their use, by Internet users of social networks in place of cunning, of a technique- induced miscegenation, in
general, and those using Facebook in particular, considered short a technical wound'4.
as the most used social network in the Congolese capital.
From the above, leaving aside the sphere of absurdity,
Thus, so many opinions on appropriation accepted in paradoxes can be used as positive opportunities to push the
the field of communication, find their foundation in the individual who is subjected to them to choose a way out of
Cultural Studies1. Indeed, many authors hav oriented their the problem as it had been formulated. This illustrates the
principle of paradoxical interventions in which the paradox
1
Cultural studies is a research current of Anglophone origin
2
at the crossroads of sociology, cultural anthropology, J.F., TRINQUECOSTE, " regards croisés sur le processus
philosophy, ethnology, literature, mediology, arts, etc. d'appropriation des technologies de l'information et de la
With a transdisciplinary aim, they present themselves as communication ", in revue de Mangement et Avenir,
an "anti¬discipline" with a strong critical dimension, Mangement Erospective Ed, Volume 5, N°45, 2011, pp.
particularly with regard to the relations between cultures 175-178.
3
and power. Transgressing the academic culture, cultural www.techno-Science.net, paradox, accessed July 22, 2021
studies propose a "transversal" approach to popular, at 1:26 PM.
4
minority, protest cultures, etc. (on M. DOUEHI, Qu'est-ce que le numérique, PUF, Paris,
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/tudes_culturelles). 2013, p.16.
13
P., FLICHY ; " Technique, usage et représentations ", in
10
KAGAMA, "L'appropriation des TIC et de Réseaux, n° 148-149, February 2008, Univ-Paris- Est, La
développement," in découverte, pp. 147-174.
www.er.URGAN.Ca/NOBE/D3.61/DEVELOP, (Accessed
March 17, 2023 at 11:55 AM). 14
PROULX, op.cit., pp. 7-20.
11
S., PROULX, quoted by Florence MILLERAND et alii, 15
Id.
La culture technique dans l'appropriation cognitive des TIC. 16
B. PHILIPPE and S. PROULX, L'explosion de la
Une étude des usages du courrier électronique, Paris, Acte communication. Introduction aux théories et aux pratiques
du colloque international, ICUST, 2001, p.408. de la communication, La Découverte, Paris, 2006, available
12
PROULX, op.cit., pp. 7-20. at www.sergeproulex.info.
From all that has been said above, Proulx draws a In the field of communication, Gregory Bateson,
satisfactory reflection of social uses that goes beyond the through his work in epistemology of communication,
individual framework, which is the result of Pronovost's developed the pragmatic perspective of paradox. Later, Paul
work. Thus, "social uses are defined as the patterns of use Watzlawick and his colleagues from Palo Alto, will spread
of individuals or groups of individuals (strata, categories, his writings, insisting on the inhibiting role of paradoxes in
classes) that prove to be relatively stabilized over a more or human communication. If in linguistic pragmatics, the
less long historical period, on the scale of larger social paradox is rather studied for itself, in communication
groups (groups, communities, societies, civilizations)"18 . pragmatics, the paradox is interesting for its effects on the
individuals in interaction. In order for a possible
C. The paradox communicational paradox to appear, it is necessary to
The concept "paradoxical" comes from "Para: next to, interpret interaction situations from the following premises:
hence "contrary", and doxa: "opinion"", forming the Greek the unit of analysis is the meaningful interaction for the
adjective paradoxos, substantivized into paradoxon and then individuals who participate in it. All communication has two
taken up by the Latins. Its plural paradoxa gave Cicero the levels: the first transmits information about facts, opinions
title of a treatise on the surprising propositions of the Stoic (it is a "clue"). The second, simultaneously, expresses
doctrine. Borrowed from Latin, it designates, by extension, something about the relationship established between the
'"what goes against the commonly accepted opinion". Above interlocutors (it is an "order"). Usually, if the double
all of "logical nature", the paradox is defined from its dimension of the communication does not appear, it is
characteristic property: to rest on true premises and to lead, because the two levels are "congruent". But if a
by a valid reasoning, to contradictory conclusions19 . contradiction occurs between message and meta-message,
the superposition of the two levels appears. For example,
Watzlawick distinguishes between antinomies, declaring "I am delighted' with a tense smile or "I am
semantic paradoxes and pragmatic paradoxes. Antinomies, listening to you" while looking out of the window will
or logical paradoxes, appear in formal logical- mathematical create discomfort in the interlocutor: there is a
systems and provide the theoretical framework for the superimposition of two antinomic messages with the
analysis of other paradoxes. Linguistic paradoxes (Peano, obligation to take both into account at the same time22. A
1906), or semantic paradoxes (Chwistek, 1937) are paradoxical injunction is presented as an order which
contains in itself a contradiction in such a way that the one
17
S. PROULX, op.cit., pp.7-20. to whom it is intended is unable to answer it in a satisfactory
way. Communication is paradoxical when it contains two
18 messages that qualify each other in a conflicting way.
S. PROULX, op.cit., pp.7-20.
19
J.C, KELLER, Le paradoxe dans la communication :
implications épistémologiques et usages thérapeutiques,
20
Thèse de doctorat, Université Paul Verlaine de Metz, École Id.
21
Doctorale Perspectives Interculturelles : Écrits, Médias, J.C, KELLER, op.cit. p. 42 to 45.
22
Espaces, Sociétés, 2018, p.42. Idem, p.9.
38
M. GENSOLLEN, " Vers une société du bricolage
coopératif ? ", in PROULX S., GARCIA J. L., HEATON L.,
" La contribution en ligne. Pratiques participatives à l'ère du
capitalisme informnel ", in Presses de l'Université du
Québec, 2014, pp.33-48.
39
F. JAURREGUIBERRY, Proulx S. Usages et enjeux des
technologies de communication, Erès éditions, Paris, 2011.
42
40
Id. S.PROULX, op.cit, pp.180-189
41
A.S. COLLARD and J. JAQUES, op.cit, pp.1-11.
SEQUENCE A
1 2 3
Source: our captures, with certified authorization of the victim of the usurped account
Above we have three different images: Mrs. ALINE (second victim), with the option of
The first image shows us two accounts of Mrs. Esther repayment with interest of 70% loan, that is to say
ESINDI. The account on top is a usurped identity and the 30,000FC, which will make a total of 80,000FC.
account on the bottom represents the real account of the The third image illustrates the detection of Mrs ALINE of
person. the usurping account, which immediately reports to Mrs
The second image illustrates the account of the usurped Esther whose account is usurped, the damage she is
identity that makes an urgent request for funds to the tune suffering.
of 50,000FC in the name and without the knowledge of
Mrs. Esther ASINDI (first victim), a request directed to
1 2
Source: our captures, with certified authorization of the victims
Above we have two different images: The second image shows us, by an individual tinkering,
The first image shows the indignant reaction of Mrs. the modification of the protection parameters against this
Esther ASINDI to her identity theft, issuing a warning to usurpation by reducing the number of seen of the friends
all her friends of the risk of money swindle that they risk to his publications. The victim directs his publications to a
by the usurper. small group.
1 2 3
Source : nos captures, avec autorisation certifiée des victimes
Above we have three images: As for the text, we note that we are in front of three
The first image in its upper part shows the updating and categories of interlocutors: the impersonator, the owner of
publication of the victim's private data after the theft of the impersonated account (first victim) and her friends
his digital identity. (second victims). In the first sequence of the
The second image illustrates the continuation of the communication, the impersonator enters in relation with the
publications of the daily activities of the victim, while friends of the first victim considered here as a third person
experiencing the satisfaction of using the digital social not yet acted in the Transmitter-Receiver relation. In the
network Facebook. second sequence of communication, the evolution of the
The third image shows the victim's publication keeping a communicative act puts the victim in relation with friends,
smile and finding pleasure in using Facebook. but also with the cyber public by the informative and
warning game. The common denominator triggering this
C. Analysis of textual and pictorial contents process is the criminal act of the usurper. The
communication here goes from the relation to the
Series A: commission and disclosure of the crime evolutionary systemic process, which puts in movement the
In the first series of images presented above, the first interlocutors that participate in the functioning of the
image shows us the presence of two accounts of the same processual and global digital system.
person, which allows us to detect identity theft by creating
an account identical to the victim's, but parallel in terms of Series B: the informative and protective gesture
the objectives pursued. Firstly, the second series of images has an informative
and protective character. The first image illustrates the
In the second image, we see the identity theft made reaction of the victim, taking care to inform those who do
with a pecuniary purpose, precisely that of swindling money not know yet, that his identity is impersonated, but also
from the friends of the victim of identity theft. Moreover, warning them that there are impersonators on the social
we notice two kinds of victims, the one whose account is network Facebook.
stolen and the one whose account content is oriented.
Second, it is protective. The second image in this B-
In the third image, we note the indignation of the two series reveals that the victim of identity theft reacts by
victims on the one hand, and the unworthy appropriation of protecting herself. First, she becomes aware of the
Facebook by the usurper on the other. In addition to this, permanent danger of identity theft, then she resorts to the
there is the indignation of other friends observing the fact, technique of reducing the spectrum of views of her
such as Marie MAFU, who is worried about the usurpation publications and updating her user settings, to protect her
and at the same time, she is sounding the alarm against the account and her digital privacy.
swindlers.
43
J.C, KELLER, op.cit, p.14.